The most obvious thing is Illinois being sent to the Stanford Regional (if they make it that far) will probably make it really hard to win their region--Stanford will probably be waiting in that final (and they would obviously get to play at home). If Illinois can make the regional final, I think we'd have to call it a GREAT year. (Go Illini!)

The committee obviously went out of their way to reward host cities. Minny got to stay in the Minneapolis regional, Nebraska is in the Omaha one, Florida in Gainesville, and Stanford in Stanford. As much as I love Huff Gym, I have to wonder if someday Illinois can get that advantage if we can just get a new "Olympic Sports" arena.

The committee also was far more influenced by the RPI than rankings. Last time I looked, Florida State was ranked #15, but their RPI was #3. The committee gave them the #3 seed overall.

The most obvious thing is Illinois being sent to the Stanford Regional (if they make it that far) will probably make it really hard to win their region--Stanford will probably be waiting in that final (and they would obviously get to play at home). If Illinois can make the regional final, I think we'd have to call it a GREAT year. (Go Illini!)

The committee obviously went out of their way to reward host cities. Minny got to stay in the Minneapolis regional, Nebraska is in the Omaha one, Florida in Gainesville, and Stanford in Stanford. As much as I love Huff Gym, I have to wonder if someday Illinois can get that advantage if we can just get a new "Olympic Sports" arena.

The committee also was far more influenced by the RPI than rankings. Last time I looked, Florida State was ranked #15, but their RPI was #3. The committee gave them the #3 seed overall.

The most obvious thing is Illinois being sent to the Stanford Regional (if they make it that far) will probably make it really hard to win their region--Stanford will probably be waiting in that final (and they would obviously get to play at home). If Illinois can make the regional final, I think we'd have to call it a GREAT year. (Go Illini!)

The committee obviously went out of their way to reward host cities. Minny got to stay in the Minneapolis regional, Nebraska is in the Omaha one, Florida in Gainesville, and Stanford in Stanford. As much as I love Huff Gym, I have to wonder if someday Illinois can get that advantage if we can just get a new "Olympic Sports" arena.

The committee also was far more influenced by the RPI than rankings. Last time I looked, Florida State was ranked #15, but their RPI was #3. The committee gave them the #3 seed overall.

Even though the marketing department failed miserably with Spike The Record, I would think that event showed that Assembly Hall can be a pretty solid venue to use for a bid to host Regionals in the next year or two...

While the committee is clearly rewarding host cities (only way they can turn a profit on this tournament and get decent crowds)... the cities they pick for regionals aren't exactly shocking either.... it is the home court of major programs that draw well and are likely to advance to regionals.

Hopefully Illinois can get into that spot, because having 4 home games in December would help us get to the Finals quite a bit.

Illinois needs to draw around 4,000 for every home game, just from being there at Huff this year I would guess a 1500 average in attendance, Huff is just not a good facility, the Assembly Hall would be a great place to host, but scheduling problems would always be an issue with other events at the Hall during this time period.
I just wonder if Illinois could ever draw enough, we have a top 5 team and still haven't picked up much attendance this year, but with a new building with easier access who knows.

Illinois averaged 3100 fans in 1992 in Huff. That was after a run of about six years when they were very good consistently. I would think that attendance will pick up again if they stay in the top 10 for a couple years and win a Big Ten title. (In the last decade, they have occasionally been very good, but they haven't done anything like win a Big Ten title.)

Oh, we are in the top 15 already, but the difference between the top handful and everyone else is big.

Huff is not that convenient, and it has lost parking since 1992, but it's really about the same as the Nebraska Coliseum in terms of age and convenience, and they've had more than 100 straight sell outs (and season tickets go for like $200). I think the biggest difference is not fan interest but 30 years of sustained excellence. (Also, their football program has generated enough revenue that they have been able to fix up their old building a bit more, but it's still the same era as Huff.)

The only bad thing about the draw that I see is that we are on the same side of the bracket at Penn State. I think a Final Four is doable, but our chances of making the championship game are virtually nil, now.

With the regular season over, the Illinois volleyball team will encounter a different atmosphere and fresh faces as it begins the NCAA Championships, hosting the Indiana-Purdue Fort Wayne Mastadons at Huff Hall on Thursday before a possible second round matchup against the winner of Milwaukee and Dayton on Friday.

“That’s one of the exciting things about this tournament,” junior Hillary Haen said. “We basically don’t know anything about the teams that we are going to face. It means we have less to be afraid of, but also that we have a lot of work cut out for us.”

The Illini open their NCAA Tournament campaign tonight at 7 p.m., with their 24-5 regular season record giving them the luxury of hosting the first two rounds of the tournament at Huff Hall, which head coach Kevin Hambly thinks will be invaluable.

“I think it’s a huge advantage to be hosting,” Hambly said.

“I’m thrilled. I think we’re going to have this place rockin’ and it’s going to be a huge home-court advantage. We’re hoping the crowd will help us get one win at a time.”

Sent the unfortunate photo of the Mastodons to my sister, who's a VB coach down near St. Louis (and played herself in HS). She thought it'd be a good object lesson to show around so their own team doesn't make the same mistake come picture time.

Sent the unfortunate photo of the Mastodons to my sister, who's a VB coach down near St. Louis (and played herself in HS). She thought it'd be a good object lesson to show around so their own team doesn't make the same mistake come picture time.

Yeah.

:laugh: Best laugh I've had in awhile. And yet they display it on their web site. On the other hand, what should we expect from a bunch of Mastodons? You'd think it would be so clear, even a Caveman wouldn't do it.